Ikaruga wiped the sweat from his brow as he observed the six sheets of metal he’d placed next to each other. Each sheet had foot wide hole punched through it, surrounded by a wreath of twisted metal. The young spear master had spent the morning training as usual, primarily testing out his piercing power. Placing his hat back onto his head, Ikaruga began cleaning up all of the training equipment that littered the Yayoi estate’s training area. Once Ikaruga finished up, he returned his trademark spear to its casing and made his way through the compound, greeting the various members of his clan as they passed by. While he wasn’t considered a disappointment by any means, Ikaruga sometimes got the feeling that some of the older members of the clan still had some misgivings about his decision to become a shinobi. Most of the open criticism stopped once he’d completed the chunin exams, but that certainly didn’t stop some of them from whispering amongst themselves.

Many of the more “traditional” Yayoi possessed a certain level of prejudice towards shinobi for “skulking about in the shadows like rats”. Though, Ikaruga chalked that up to the clan’s typical position as defenders of the Daimyos and other such high-ranking political figures of the lands as putting them in opposition to opposing shinobi more often than not. Still, even the most disdainful of the Yayoi wasn’t exactly opposed to things which may offer a level of positive publicity for the clan. Namely, the potential for versatile employment.

“Ikkun!” a soft voice called, followed shortly afterwards by a little girl with white hair tied up into a bun on top of her head. “A scary looking man is out in front looking for you.” she explained, words interspersed with panting as she attempted to catch her breath after her mad dash to fetch him. Ikaruga simply nodded and pat the girl on the head, smiling down at her. 
“[color=D3D3D3]Thanks, Hiromi. I’ll go see what he wants.[/color]”

It didn’t take long for Ikaruga to come out and greet the man, who he clocked as one of the village’s Jonin, only to be abruptly dragged off once the man that he declared he’d be Ikaruga’s teacher. The guy certainly had a strong grip. The jonin also had three others with him, who Ikaruga would come to find would be his squadmates. Ikaruga took the time to observe his fellow Chunin, taking a mental note of any distinctive features. The one that stood out most was the short boy with cat-like ears. Upon further thought, Ikaruga had heard a lot about some sort of “Catboy” throughout Kumogakure, for the boy had quite the reputation as a troublemaker of sorts. Second off was the skinny blonde guy with the goggles. [i]”[color=D3D3D3]A Naruto cosplayer?[/color]”[/i] Ikaruga thought, scratching his cheek with an index finger. In his studies on shinobi history, Ikaruga had come across a few stories about the legendary figure of Naruto Uzumaki, so it didn’t seem to unusual that there would be fanboys trying to emulate the former Jinchuriki that held the Kyuubi. The goggles were an odd choice, but there probably capable of serving a practical function as well. And rounding out the pack was the one girl of the group. While she didn’t seem too remarkable in comparison to the other two, Ikaruga managed to notice the tiny scratches along her arms.

Eventually Ikaruga recognized the Jounin leading their group as Hageshi Nakamura. He’d seen the man around the village many times before, but never really got a close look at him. It was pretty apparent that the man had spent considerable effort building up his physique just from looking at his defined musculature. Fitting when one took into account the man’s reputation as one of Kumogakure’s foremost taijutsu users.

Ikaruga decided to break the silence of their trek by starting off with a greeting. “[color=D3D3D3]Yo, I’m Ikaruga. Yayoi, Ikaruga. Pleasure to be working with you guys.[/color]” he chimed, breaking out his signature smile and piece sign as he readjusted the strap of the Rasen no Yari’s case on his shoulder.